Mumblings of an Old Man

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Fixed!

A GIANT thank-you to my niece, Nicole, for having me in to her work to have my sloppy dental work fixed up. It seems that the work was ok on the whole, but my random dentist had some wacky ideas about finishing it off. And perhaps lack the know-how to floss. Anyway, in for an x-ray, work by the doc and then scaling by a hygenist, all at no cost! Super-friendly doc, and sitting in the chair listening to work being done nearby, was reminded what professional dentistry is actually supposed to be like. Had to venture back to drop off a bottle of wine for the man. Awesome job.

And a great little visit home for the holidays. I'm always glad to go (if also glad to leave before too long). The fam was surprised and happy to see the pup come along with, and he had a good visit, too.

Now possibly over to Toronto for New Year's. Have to see. Oh, and work is on the horizon. I start Jan. 7 in a new office. Excited by the work (and heck, working in my field has regained novelty status) and will be nice to be paying down debt instead of continuing to accumulate it. A good start to 2008!

Friday, December 14, 2007

Root of the problem

Here's the top ten signs that your root canal procedure may be in trouble:

10) Your random new dentist's offices are deserted.9) During your procedure, they keep rifling through drawers looking for stuff8) The dentist never tells you what's coming next or how long it will take.7) The dentist mumbles to his assistant: Do we have any? No? That's ok.6) The dental assistant likes to put things in your mouth and then look elsewhere, choking you with the suction tube.5) The dentist takes hold of an instrument the assistant is holding and moves it, and her hand, to a different position.4) The dental assistant drops the suction tube onto the floor.3) The dentist mumbles to his assistant: We only have these? That'll do.2) The dentist appears to have an amazingly short memory. He takes two measurements and then asks for them constantly. Dystal? 1-8. Lingual? 1-6. Dystal? He asks his assistant for each about a dozen times.1) The dentist slips with the drill and both he and his assistant pause to stare.

Update: my 15 minutes in the chair on Friday turned into 50, as a simple crown installation turned into something else. A layperson doesn't know what's gone wrong but he knows when something has. Crown goes in. Floss. Test bite. (feels tight, but the bite is ok, I say) Crown comes out. Cement goes on. Crown goes back in. Flos- *snap* Ok. Flo- *snap* A dozen attempts later, he's threading it through the gumline gap and sawing upward. No good. Next: painful wedges. Nope. Finally, frustatingly, sitting up and being told that I can leave it as is (?!) or he'll cut this crown out and put a new one in in the new year. Argh.

[late edit: did I mention that during the RC, they put on a Mel Brooks movie? That was torture]